Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Stake in Booking Holdings Inc. $BKNG

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its holdings in shares of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:BKNG) by 4.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,178 shares of the business services provider’s stock after selling 94 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Booking were worth $12,609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Atwood & Palmer Inc. bought a new position in Booking in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Wealth Preservation Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter worth about $28,000. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the second quarter worth about $35,000. First PREMIER Bank grew its position in shares of Booking by 100.0% during the second quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 6 shares of the business services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 3 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Keystone Global Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Booking during the first quarter worth about $32,000. 92.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on BKNG. Benchmark reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $6,200.00 target price (up previously from $6,000.00) on shares of Booking in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Booking from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley set a $5,650.00 price target on Booking and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 30th. DA Davidson raised their price target on Booking from $5,750.00 to $6,500.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial raised their price target on Booking from $4,720.00 to $5,630.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Booking presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5,807.89.

Insider Transactions at Booking

In other news, Director Vanessa Ames Wittman sold 15 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,500.00, for a total value of $82,500.00. Following the sale, the director owned 747 shares in the company, valued at $4,108,500. This represents a 1.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Larry Quinlan sold 64 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $5,511.80, for a total value of $352,755.20. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 131 shares in the company, valued at $722,045.80. The trade was a 32.82% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 4,195 shares of company stock worth $23,467,630 over the last quarter. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Booking Trading Down 0.1%

BKNG opened at $5,418.05 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $175.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.68, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.35. Booking Holdings Inc. has a 12 month low of $4,096.23 and a 12 month high of $5,839.41. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $5,524.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $5,307.41.

Booking (NASDAQ:BKNG) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 29th. The business services provider reported $55.40 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $50.32 by $5.08. Booking had a negative return on equity of 134.19% and a net margin of 19.23%.The firm had revenue of $6.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $41.90 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Booking has set its Q3 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Booking Holdings Inc. will post 209.92 EPS for the current year.

Booking Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th were paid a $9.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 5th. This represents a $38.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. Booking’s dividend payout ratio is presently 26.71%.

Booking Company Profile

Booking Holdings Inc, formerly The Priceline Group Inc, is a provider of travel and restaurant online reservation and related services. The Company, through its online travel companies (OTCs), connects consumers wishing to make travel reservations with providers of travel services across the world. It offers consumers an array of accommodation reservations (including hotels, bed and breakfasts, hostels, apartments, vacation rentals and other properties) through its Booking.com, priceline.com and agoda.com brands.